Well after another wonderful 12 hour day of train travel we finally arrived in Budapest Monday evening! A friend that sam met while studying abroad in Oslo who is from Budapest picked us up from the train station with his girlfriend. They were such a great help and brought us to pick up our tickets for sziget music festival and to the store to purchase our new accommodation for the festival. Our first night in Budapest we stayed with balasz and gyongi. We got some za' for dinner and then they took us up to the citadella- an area where you get an absolutely stunning view of the city. I had no idea Budapest was so beautiful. Pest is on the east side of the Danube river and Buda is on the west side... If you do the math of adding them up you get Budapest- crazy how that formula works out. But yes located along the Danube it's stunning. Parliament is such an extravagant building and all the other buildings have been so well maintained throughout the years.
Tuesday we went out for lunch and that evening sam and I went to sziget to see.... Dundundun- PRINCE! He was so much fun and we met some really cool guys from portugal at the concert. After the show we went back to pest and met up with balasz, gyongi, tibor (a roomy) and dori- another friend sam met in Oslo who is also from Budapest. We went to a lovely park on the pest side and shared some drinks and laughs before headin back to balasz's place to crash.
Wednesday was finally the day we were off to sziget for good. As luck would have it I miraculously got better from my sickness literally overnight. I was planning on heading back to the hospital to demand a blood test or something to figure out what was goin on in my insides. Anyways, Balasz dropped us off and sam and I went on a hunt for a place to pitch camp- or rather set up our cave. Thinking we were so smart we decided to set it up on the side of the reggae stage- haha you will hear more about that life decision later.
How to describe sziget tho? Nuts. Absolutely insane-unlike any festival I have ever been to. With 36 different stages and an attendance of 400,000 people all on one island, it was absolutely insane. Unlike countryfest, wefest or the like you are not allowed to bring alcohol in (well if your not a sneaky devil). And there are also not designated campgrounds- you pitch camp wherever your heart desires. And almost everybody tents out there, apparently some bring campervans but there is a designated area for that which we never saw. Plus it's not cool bc tenting out creates such a better fest experience. And there are food stands and alcohol stands everywhere! You would never have to walk more than 30 seconds from any area to find them. And talk about things going on constantly- not only were there 36 stages continually jammin but there were dance classes, circus shows, chess boards, bean bag and huka lounges, stilts and wooden things to play with, yoga, every kind of athletic activity (soccer, ball, vball, tennis, pong, foosball, skating rinks) you name it... Also had so many booth like tents set up for a library, HIV testing, internet, electronic charge areas, hammock hangouts- my goodness you name it and they had it. It was the coolest thing- none of the food and beverage places ever closed. And at cfest/wefest basically all you do is drink from the second you wake up until the second you pass out, but here there was just so much to do! Coolest festival ever.
So anyways after settin up camp we went walking around the island. We also met up later that evening with dori who set up camp next to us and we met our Italian neighbors who were way cool. Also met our Jamaican neighbor who later that week got arrested for dealing drugs- his telltale sign for people to find him was his nice red rag he had tied on the tree above his tent. So Wednesday we ended up seeing Omen and then saw Rise Against at the main stage. They were loads of fun and after them we went and saw Empire of the Sun, an Australian group thy were loads of fun. They played in the Burn Party Arena which houses electro/house/techno genres. They also dressed crazy and i sure hope to see them again in the future!
Thursday morning was something else. We were woken up by the reggae stage blasting music, which continued to happen every morning for the rest of the time. Also someone had rummaged thru dori's tent the night before and stolen her leather jacket and sunnies. Jerks. We went to the supermarket which is like a 10 minute walk from the entrance of the festival and a place to go and talk about the previous night. Hung out there all afternoon. We went and saw La Roux that evening at main stage, a band from the UK. They were loads of fun and after them we saw Good Charlotte. We were right up in the front for them and rocked out. They had a huge mosh sam almost got knocked into. Then for Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous they had the entire crowd squat down and when the song started we all jumped up to jam. After Good Charlotte Sam and I went to the Roma tent, which I'm not sure if there is a typical genre that plays there but I stayed and saw Amsterdam Klezmer band and DJ Scratchy (UK). Both were techno style and I jammed out there till the wee hours of the morning- wow was that a night of some crazy gigs!
Friday we finally showered haha and then walked around the island, bought some sweet gauchos, hung out at the sports area and then met up with Dori in the evening and went to see Skunk Anansie, a UK group that played at main stage. The main singer is a bald, black chick with the biggest mouth ever- but could she sing and get the crowd involved. Half the time she was running around the crowd singing, crowd surfing and a couple times she walked on the crowd- daring gal she was but so much fun! After Skunk we went to the Hungarian stage and saw Budapest Bar and ate a giant hot dog smothered in veggies. Later that night we saw Prodigy at main stage- a UK band that knows how to rock. They were one of the best gigs we saw there. YouTube them if you are a pop-rock fan.
Saturday morning we woke up and decided to indulge in Hungarian culture and went to the Lukacs bath. So relaxing -there were so many pools, saunas, exercise classes, ice baths and so many other things. Our favorite was the heated pool which had a small lazy river that you floated thru, big jets that shot down on your back and chair things that had water jets that massaged your body. After the bath we went to a nice little cafe nearby and enjoyed some burritos and wraps. Met up with dori and went to see Kate Nash whose from the UK. If you ask me, dont waste your time. We watched her scream the entire time and her lipstick rubbed all up and down her face from it getting on the microphone haha, at least we got a good laugh out of it. Later that night we went and saw 30 Seconds to Mars who were pretty good. Somehow sam and I later ended up in the A38 stage where we saw Digital Mystikz from the UK and then sam left but I stayed and rocked out to Gaslamp Killer also from the UK.
Well this brings me to Sunday, the last full day of the festival. We were up by 8am and headed to the spa again for the same routine and then ate at the same cafe but this time got an iced coffee and panini yum. Got some more vodka and Gatorade bottles. That evening we went and saw Kid Cudi yaya! Was a freaking crime scene trying to get into that tent, had to throw my elbows numerous times and pretend I was big and strong. Cudi was so nuts!!! We were pretty close to the front and the Burn Party Arena was absolutely packed. And talk about scorching hot- not kidding it a good 40 Celsius in there which is like 110f - maybe even hotter. We were in shorts and a tank and were drenched head to toe in our own sweat plus everyones who was around us, sounds delightful I know. Two guys that were rockin out next to us were from Cali so after Cudi we all went and had a beer together outside. After Cudi I was absolutely exhausted so I went to bed. Sam went and rocked out with dori and came back to the cave later that night. It was so funny because there was a couple rolling around outside our tent next to the side of the reggae stage shackin up. What made it extra funny was the fact that people from the reggae stage would always go to that area to pee and by this time the area was so raunchy smelling (bad for us) but my god idk how they were able to roll around in it! Finally they left and the stench was so overwhelming that sam and I had to evacuate our tent for a puke session. Haha!!!
Monday morning we were up by 6am to beat the mad rush out of there and the heat! It had been between 85-90 all week! Dori, sam and I caught a taxi to doris grandmas place in Budapest and crashed until noon. Then we had some delicious lunch prepared by gma, showered/de-sanitized and got some stuff figured out for the rest of out trip. Gma made a delicious soup, salad and chicken breast dinner for us and then dori brought us around the city center. Budapest is so beautiful!!! We walked around the main shopping street, saw scenic views of the city, went to a cheese fest and bought cheese, and finished up the night at a ruins bar. They basically take peoples junk and put it in this bar giving different areas such a unique atmosphere- you could be sitting on some type of chair, a toilet, a washing machine- basically you name it and it was there. We went back to gmas after for bed.
It is now Tuesday the 16. I have been traveling for a solid 3 months and have 2 weeks left to go- what a realization. I'm listening to Taylor swift Fairytale on the train to Vienna and cannot believe my fairytale summer is coming to an end and fast. We have some exciting plans for the rest of the month, most which consist of meeting up with friends from exchange and friends we have met throughout our travels. Crazy to think I will only have a couple more blogs from here on out! Until next time, enjoy the rest of august and see all you crazy Minnesotans very soon!
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